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Sunday, November 1, 2015

Book Review: Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay



Sharon Long is here today reviewing the latest book by Linwood Barclay, Broken Promise. You can enter to win a signed copy of the book here in a special holiday season giveaway.

Broken Promise is the first book of a trilogy by Linwood Barclay.  David is a single father, who lost his wife a few years ago and was a reporter for the Boston Globe.  However, he was spending too much time away from his son, Ethan, and decided to move back to his hometown of Promise Falls. David started working for the local paper but on his first day, it was announced the paper was going out of business.  So for the time being, they are living with his parents until he finds another job.  David’s mom asks him to take some food over to his cousin, Marla, who has been going through a rough time since losing her baby several months ago.  When David gets to Marla’s; the door is unlocked, he goes in and hears a baby crying.  He finds Marla in her bedroom holding a baby boy. When he questions her about the baby, she tells him an angel came to her door, gave her the baby and said his name was Matthew.  David quickly looks around the house and finds a baby stroller with an advertisement addressed to Rosemary Gaynor.  In addition, he notices a smudge on the outside of the door that could be blood.  David tells Marla he will take her and the baby to the store but instead drives to the Gaynor’s house. Once there, Bill Gaynor is just going into his house but seeing the baby in David’s car, he starts screaming asking why they have Matthew.  David tries to calm him down but Bill is running for the house yelling for Rosemary. David follows him inside where they find her dead on the kitchen floor. 

In the meantime, other things are happening in Promise Falls including dead squirrels found strung up on a fence. There are attempted rapes of female students at the local college. Not to mention some strange goings on at the abandoned amusement park.  Deputy Duckworth of the police department has his hands full. Along with this, David’s mother, Arlene is having more and more trouble with her memory and it appears his father, Don is hiding something. Of course, Ethan is being bullied at school. Agnes, Marla’s mother, is the hospital administrator with her own problems and secrets and her father, Gill, has his own secret as well. Throw in the former disgraced Mayor who now owns a water bottling company.

It is how the story lines evolve is what makes this book so terrific. This novel is very well written, fast paced and intriguing. David is the main character however there are several other very memorable characters in Promise Falls. 

Linwood Barclay does a terrific job of keeping the various story lines going along with very strong character development.  I highly recommend you do not miss book.

Broken Promise was released this summer.  The second book will be released in the spring of 2016 and there is no release date yet for the last book.  This trilogy is different in that each book is a standalone with its own plot; however, there is an ongoing plot throughout all three books. I cannot wait to read more about the people of Promise Falls and to see the next mystery solved. Since this is such a good book; I can easily see this being produced into a movie or even a TV series.  It will be very hard to wait almost a year for the next book. 

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